Together Kind Of
by theaverys
Summary: April and Jackson then and now. A short, one-shot Japril Valentine's story!


Sorry it took me so long! This is really short and they're in a mild AU. Short story and their characters aren't changed too much so please give it a try. And I would LOVE it if you** review** and let me know what you think :D Written quickly, sorry about any errors! If I actually owned anything from Shondaland then I would have Alex Karev and Olivia Pope getting freaky.

**Happy Valentine's Day!**

* * *

It was just past eleven pm and April was just walking out of her third surgery of the day. On Valentine's Day of all days she pulled a sixteen hour shift. All three trauma's were related to domestic violence. It was hard to believe but she knew it was statistically proven that more domestic violence incidents happen on or around the holidays. She used to look forward to logging in the extra OR hours on holidays, but since being hired on as an attending at Grey Sloan she got all the surgeries she wanted. Therefore working on Valentine's Day sucked.

She immediately went to the open nurses station outside of the OR to chart her surgery. There were a few complications that she needed to document before she could leave for the night. She was interrupted when Jackson set a huge bouquet of pink and white roses on the table in front of her with a grin on his face.

"I didn't think you were ever going to close that guy up, everything go okay?" He asked, more out of kindness than actual curiosity. He could actually tell by her mood that nothing too serious happened. She gave him the gist of the last two hours and sighed. All she could think about was the scent of the dozens of roses invading her senses.

She nodded easily. "Thank you for the flowers Jackson. They're beautiful…" She admired, looking towards the flowers and thinking back to their first Valentine's together. Together kind of. "Remember the first pink rose you ever gave me?"

He didn't even have to think about it. He did.

_"Now that our boxes are decorated, it's time to pass out your Valentine's cards!" Mrs. Sloan sang happily to her class. Lexie Sloan taught the third grade at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, WA. The kids in her class were rowdy but it was due completely to their excitement. Kids their age were still pure and had no reason to hate Valentine's Day. Their hearts were full of love and she loved that._

_The kids walked around the classroom, completely giddy. Each student had made a Valentine for each of their peers. Some had made some of their Valentine's more special than others though._

_Jackson was distracted from sorting through his Valentine's with his friends Alex and Charles by April Kepner. They were friends. Really good friends. They lived on the same street and she was always teaching him things. She helped him with his homework and helped him when he was sad and he did the same for her. But his other friends never really knew he knew her._

_He had made a special valentine just for her. It was a big red heart cut out of construction paper and he had wrote 'Roses are red, violets are blue, you're so pretty, I'm going to kiss you' on it. He decorated it with bright pink glitter because he knew she loved glitter and he even sprayed some of his sisters girly cupcake smelling spray on it to make it prettier for her. He knew she loved that stuff because she always smelled like cupcakes. Finally, he taped the top of a pink rose to the side of the heart card._

_When he finally grew enough courage, he walked across the room to give it to her. "Hi, April." He smiled his biggest smile. She grinned like she usually did when he came around, except she was used to it just being them alone in her backyard. She wasn't used to Alex Karev, Charles and her friend Reed being around them._

_"Jackson?" She asked quickly. He handed her the card and she looked down to read it cautiously. Even at eight years old she was cautious of everyone, because she was usually the odd girl out. No matter how much she loved Jackson, she knew she was weird and everyone else thought she was weird._

_"You already gave me one?" She laughed, looking down at it. "Ohh, this one has glitter?"_

_"This one is special. Read it."_

_She started to read it out loud. Quietly and to herself. "Roses are red, violets are blue, you're so pretty, I'm going to…"_

_Before she finished the last part of the last line, he kissed her. Like really kissed her. At eight years old, he planted a big, wet kiss right across her lips. He was so into it he even "dunked" her back in her seat a little. When they came up for air, the entire class was staring in silence. She was red and her mouth was hanging wide open. Jackson was grinning like a fool._

_"April Kepner, will you be my Valentine?"_

* * *

"It was the first time I noticed you. Like really noticed you." He laughed, picking one rose out of the bouquet to hand to her. "So April Avery, will you be my Valentine?"


End file.
